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The differences between lead consultants and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a lead consultant has an average salary of $103,221, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a lead consultant include customer service, digital transformation and business process. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Lead Consultant | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $103,221 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $49.63 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 78,252 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 43 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
The lead consultants oversee the work of a consultant team and are responsible for offering clients their advice and recommendations on the given project. They are multi-focus experts that assist the company in improving its business performance by acting as liaisons between clients and the consultancy team. Their main job is to ensure the daily management of client's projects. They help the client identify and understand their needs together with finding solutions to their difficulties. Additionally, they analyze and review proposals from the team and then provide relevant solutions to the problems.
Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.
Lead consultants and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Consultant | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $103,221 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $80,000 And $132,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | California |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a lead consultant and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Lead Consultant | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between lead consultants' and project managers' demographics:
| Lead Consultant | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 43 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 67.9% Female, 32.1% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.7% Asian, 19.5% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 10% |